Sick SAE

The oldest of my SAE tribe (I've had him/her two years and is a good 5") has
been laying on the bottom of the tank breathing fast.
Now the SAE also looks as if his lips are red and swollen, but no fungus,
rash, or spots.
Fins are not clamped

All the other fish are OK, the water checks out Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0,
Nitrate 10-15, pH 6.8.

Tank is 400ltr with internal filter, 300w heater (inside filter so it can't
be of that !), external XP3 cannister, and 15w UV.
Tank is heavily planted with gravel substrate.

Would it be anything to do with the tank move, or what would it be ?

Peter

"2pods" wrote in message
...
The oldest of my SAE tribe (I've had him/her two years and is a good 5")
has been laying on the bottom of the tank breathing fast.
Now the SAE also looks as if his lips are red and swollen, but no fungus,
rash, or spots.
Fins are not clamped

All the other fish are OK, the water checks out Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0,
Nitrate 10-15, pH 6.8.

Tank is 400ltr with internal filter, 300w heater (inside filter so it
can't be of that !), external XP3 cannister, and 15w UV.
Tank is heavily planted with gravel substrate.

Would it be anything to do with the tank move, or what would it be ?


Tank moves can agitate the substrate, and stir up detritus. It may be that
the water conditions at the bottom aren't what you got readings for (Fish
tanks are not homogeneous. A top water sample isn't the environment your
SAE frequents. I recall a poster from a few months ago, whose fish would
swarm around his hand when he took a water sample, and give him a consistent
false-positive reading for ammonia). Re-sample your water, trying to get as
close to the lower strata of the tank as possible (either a disposable pipet
which is left air-filled until submerged to the bottom, or a screw cap
bottle, which is placed in upside-down until pushed to the bottom will give
you a reasonable lower water sample), to tell you if there is a local
problem. If there is, you may get by with just time, letting the tank
settle and regular water changes. The SAE may appreciate a seperate home
until things get back to normal.

It may also be that the SAE took in some of that detritus during the move,
which didn't agree with him (decomp matter rarely does, unless you're a
nitrobacter). You may want to relocate it to a hospital tank, treated with
aquarium salt, for observation.

Good luck!

DaveZ
Atom Weaver

"David Zopf" wrote in message
t...

"2pods" wrote in message
...
The oldest of my SAE tribe (I've had him/her two years and is a good 5")
has been laying on the bottom of the tank breathing fast.
Now the SAE also looks as if his lips are red and swollen, but no fungus,
rash, or spots.
Fins are not clamped

All the other fish are OK, the water checks out Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0,
Nitrate 10-15, pH 6.8.

Tank is 400ltr with internal filter, 300w heater (inside filter so it
can't be of that !), external XP3 cannister, and 15w UV.
Tank is heavily planted with gravel substrate.

Would it be anything to do with the tank move, or what would it be ?


Tank moves can agitate the substrate, and stir up detritus. It may be
that the water conditions at the bottom aren't what you got readings for
(Fish tanks are not homogeneous. A top water sample isn't the environment
your SAE frequents. I recall a poster from a few months ago, whose fish
would swarm around his hand when he took a water sample, and give him a
consistent false-positive reading for ammonia). Re-sample your water,
trying to get as close to the lower strata of the tank as possible (either
a disposable pipet which is left air-filled until submerged to the bottom,
or a screw cap bottle, which is placed in upside-down until pushed to the
bottom will give you a reasonable lower water sample), to tell you if
there is a local problem. If there is, you may get by with just time,
letting the tank settle and regular water changes. The SAE may appreciate
a seperate home until things get back to normal.

It may also be that the SAE took in some of that detritus during the move,
which didn't agree with him (decomp matter rarely does, unless you're a
nitrobacter). You may want to relocate it to a hospital tank, treated
with aquarium salt, for observation.

Good luck!

DaveZ
Atom Weaver


Thanks Dave
Things to try :-)

Peter

Mid posted.
2pods wrote:
"David Zopf" wrote in message
t...

"2pods" wrote in message
...
The oldest of my SAE tribe (I've had him/her two years and is a
good 5") has been laying on the bottom of the tank breathing fast.
Now the SAE also looks as if his lips are red and swollen, but no
fungus, rash, or spots.
Fins are not clamped

All the other fish are OK, the water checks out Ammonia 0, Nitrite
0, Nitrate 10-15, pH 6.8.

Tank is 400ltr with internal filter, 300w heater (inside filter so
it can't be of that !), external XP3 cannister, and 15w UV.
Tank is heavily planted with gravel substrate.

Would it be anything to do with the tank move, or what would it be
?


Tank moves can agitate the substrate, and stir up detritus. It may
be that the water conditions at the bottom aren't what you got
readings for (Fish tanks are not homogeneous. A top water sample
isn't the environment your SAE frequents. I recall a poster from a
few months ago, whose fish would swarm around his hand when he took
a water sample, and give him a consistent false-positive reading for
ammonia). Re-sample your water, trying to get as close to the lower
strata of the tank as possible (either a disposable pipet which is
left air-filled until submerged to the bottom, or a screw cap
bottle, which is placed in upside-down until pushed to the bottom
will give you a reasonable lower water sample), to tell you if there
is a local problem. If there is, you may get by with just time,
letting the tank settle and regular water changes. The SAE may
appreciate a seperate home until things get back to normal.

It may also be that the SAE took in some of that detritus during the
move, which didn't agree with him (decomp matter rarely does, unless
you're a nitrobacter). You may want to relocate it to a hospital
tank, treated with aquarium salt, for observation.

Good luck!

DaveZ
Atom Weaver


Thanks Dave
Things to try :-)

Same here (although for a mini-cycle possibly). Good luck and later!



Peter

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 19:21:57 -0000, "2pods" wrote:

The oldest of my SAE tribe (I've had him/her two years and is a good 5") has
been laying on the bottom of the tank breathing fast.
Now the SAE also looks as if his lips are red and swollen, but no fungus,
rash, or spots.
Fins are not clamped

All the other fish are OK, the water checks out Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0,
Nitrate 10-15, pH 6.8.

Tank is 400ltr with internal filter, 300w heater (inside filter so it can't
be of that !), external XP3 cannister, and 15w UV.
Tank is heavily planted with gravel substrate.

Would it be anything to do with the tank move, or what would it be ?

Peter


I have had 10 SAEs in 3 tanks for almost 3 years. I think it was in
the second year I lost one. One day I noticed him laying on the
bottom, not unusual, but he didn't move around during the day. They
have a quick breathing pattern so again nothing to worry about. The
next day he was dead. Nothing about his body gave a clue. There are
6 other SAEs in this 75 gallon tank, none of which has had any
problems.

As my vet tells me, "Everything dies, it's just a question of when."

dick

"2pods" wrote in :

The oldest of my SAE tribe (I've had him/her two years and is a good
5") has been laying on the bottom of the tank breathing fast.
Now the SAE also looks as if his lips are red and swollen, but no
fungus, rash, or spots.

Get quickly some more water movement there, because SAEs get just these
symptoms from lack of oxygen. It might be something else, but at least it
doesn't hurt to try this first.

Liisa

"Liisa Sarakontu" wrote in message
...
"2pods" wrote in :

The oldest of my SAE tribe (I've had him/her two years and is a good
5") has been laying on the bottom of the tank breathing fast.
Now the SAE also looks as if his lips are red and swollen, but no
fungus, rash, or spots.

Get quickly some more water movement there, because SAEs get just these
symptoms from lack of oxygen. It might be something else, but at least it
doesn't hurt to try this first.

Liisa

There is plenty of water movement via the Juwel filter venturi and the XP3
spraybar return, but thanks for the suggestion.

So far the SAE is still with us :-)

Peter